130 



PORTUGAL. 



Portugal, achievement in the history of the art to which it be- 

 v -^ - V"-' 1 longs. Nor was Columbus the only distinguished per- 

 son in this department that Portugal overlooked. Ma- 

 gellan, a Portuguese, and the first that circumnavigated 

 the globe, was also denied patronage and encourage- 

 ment in his native country ; and having in consequence 

 applied to Charles V. of Spain, that monarch did him- 

 self honour by taking him under his protection, and 

 assisting in promoting his bold and interesting design. 

 The successful voyages of the Portuguese were soon 

 , celebrated throughout Europe, and excited the deepest 

 interest.* With some, they roused a spirit of emulation; 

 but the Venetians, with the quick-sighted discernment 

 of merchants, early foresaw, and feared that it would 

 prove the ruin of that lucrative branch of commerce 

 with the East, which had contributed so largely to en- 

 rich and aggrandize them. Nor were their fears ill- 

 founded. The Portuguese did not fail immediately to 

 avail themselves of the route they had discovered to 

 India. The wisdom and prudence of King Emanuel 

 was not more conspicuous in the vigorous and judicious 

 measures adopted at home for monopolizing the com- 

 merce of that opulent region, than in his nomination 

 of officers to take the supreme command in Asia ; men 

 who, for military and political sagacity, for integrity 

 and love of country, have certainly not been surpassed 

 by persons in similar situations. And their measures 

 were not only planned in wisdom, but carried into ef- 

 fect with the greatest activity. In twenty-four years 

 after the voyage of Gama, the Portuguese had rendered 

 themselves masters of Malacca, which was the centre 

 of the trade of the East. They had also formed set- 

 tlements at Goa and Diu, by which they engrossed the 

 trade of the Malabar coast. In every part of India 

 they were received with respect ; in some they had 

 absolute command : and they thus rapidly diverted 

 from its ancient channels the commerce of India, and 

 were also enabled to import into Europe, the various 

 productions peculiar to that country, in greater abun- 

 dance than had hitherto been effected. The Venetians 

 now felt that decrease of their Indian trade which they 

 had dreaded. This state of things they were resolved 

 to counteract. And sensible that their own nav-al 

 force was inadequate to the task, they incited the Sul- 

 tan of the Mamelukes to fit out a fleet to attack those 

 unexpected invaders of a monopoly of which he and 

 they had long enjoyed undisturbed possession. But 

 the Portuguese were not unprepared to defend them- 

 selves. The formidable squadron sent out against them 

 they encountered with matchless courage, entirely de- 

 feated it, and became more thoroughly masters of the 

 Indian Ocean than before. Year after year they extend- 

 ed their connexion with the East, till they established 

 there a commercial empire of great opulence and ex- 

 tent. And Emanuel, who laid the foundation of it, had 

 the satisfaction of living to see it almost completed. 

 Every part of Europe was supplied by the Portuguese 

 with the productions of the East ; and this quarter of 

 the globe had now little or no intercourse with India 

 except by the Cape of Good Hope. 



John III. Emanuel, who died in 1522, crowned with years 

 and glory, was succeeded by his son John III. a prince 

 who extended his acquisitions in India, colonized 

 the Brazils, and effected some salutary improvements 

 at home. But the praise, to which in other respects 



he is entitled, is much qualified, if not entirely annul- 

 led, by his introduction of .the inquisition : an event to 

 which, in no mean degree, the rapid subsequent de- 

 cline of the Portuguese monarchy is to be attributed. 

 From this date, the Portuguese annals are distinguished 

 by nothing that is great or splendid. Sebastian, who 

 succeeded John (1557), was partly from natural dis- 

 positions, and in part from a defect in his education, 

 remarkable for rashness, obstinacy, and want of discri- 

 mination. Wishing to distinguish himself in a war 

 against the infidels, he undertook two crusades into 

 Barbary. For this purpose he levied large armies, he 

 induced the principal nobility to rally round his stand- 

 ard, neglected all domestic and internal improvements, 

 and thus sacrificed the true interests and hopes of his 

 kingdom to personal vanity and the meanest ambition. 

 And continuing inflexible in his purpose, in opposition 

 to the importunities of his allies and more judicious 

 subjects, he left Lisbon (1578) with a formidable fleet, 

 and having landed in Barbary, was met by Muley Mo- 

 loch, the Moorish king, and defeated with incredible 

 slaughter, himself slain, and his army either cut off or 

 taken prisoners. By this signal defeat, the kingdom 

 was at once exhausted of men, money, and reputation, 

 and placed in circumstances to become an easy prey 

 to the ambition or rapacity of any state that might wish 

 to make the attempt. Cardinal Henry, who succeeded 

 Sebastian, reigned only two years ; and the male line 

 of the royal family having become, extinct, and the 

 kingdom being completely devoid of resources for 

 self-defence, Philip II. the celebrated king of Spain, 

 soon succeeded in adding it to his paternal dominions, 

 though various attempts were made by the people to 

 retain their independence, and though Elizabeth, queen 

 of England, fitted out a fleet to drive Philip from the 

 territories he had so unjustly seized. The Spanish mo- 

 narch, however, having in opposition to every obstacle, 

 firmly seated himself on the throne of Portugal, granted 

 his new subjects a form of government and laws, in 

 their spirit and tendency sufficiently enlightened, but 

 which were afterwards perverted by him and his suc- 

 cessors to the great prejudice of Portugal, which they 

 evidently wished to mould at length into the character 

 and circumstances of a province of Spain. In this 

 situation Portugal long remained in a state of com- 

 plete subjection and humiliation at home, and ex- 

 posed in her colonies both in India and Brazil to the 

 inroads of the Dutch, at that time the most enterpris- 

 ing naval power of Europe. This state of things, 

 however, was at length to have an end. Portugal had 

 all along submitted with reluctance to a foreign yoke; 

 the Spanish monarchs showed themselves unworthy of 

 their new acquisition, by the illiberal and tyrannical 

 policy they adopted; and the Portuguese, roused at 

 length by many injuries, and a native love of liberty, 

 made a successful insurrection in 1640, expelled the 

 Spaniards from their territories, and conferred the 

 crown on the Duke of Braganza, a descendant by the 

 female line of the royal family. This revolution, 

 which forms so important an era in Portuguese history, 

 being the almost unanimous voice of the nation, was 

 attended with little or no effusion of blood. Nor were 

 all the attempts of the king of Spain able to regain 

 possession. A fierce war between the two kingdoms 

 raged for many years. Portugal gained several dis- 



PortugsU. 



Sebastian. 



Portugal 

 becomes 

 subject to 

 Philip II. 



of Spain. 



The Por- 

 tuguese 

 throw oft" 

 the Span- 

 ish yoke. 



House of 



* The voyage of Gama forms the subject of the Lusiad, the celebrated epic poem of Camoeus, published about the middle of the sixteenth 

 century. Who can cease to regret, that Columbus, a much more interesting and illustrious character, was allowed to be laid in the grave 



" unhonoured and unsung ?" 



